HOORNBEEK
331
HOPE
chard (George), Hist, of Comjreijationalism (N. Y. 1865, 2 vols. 12mo), ii, 194 sq., 297.
Hoornbeek, Johann, a distinguishcil Dutch divine, was bom at Harlem Nov. 4, 1G17. He entered the min- istry at Cologne in 1639, and was appointed to Utrecht as minister and professor of theology in 1644. In 1654 he went to Leyden as professor, where he died Sept. 1, 1666. He was a prolitic and much esteemed writer. Among those of his works which may yet be of interest to the scholar are, Epistola ml Joh. Burceum de Indepen- dentismo (Lugd. Bat. 1659) : — Brevis instiL studii theolo- ffid (Ultraj. 1658) : — Summa controversiurum 7-eligionis (1653), which is still, with Spanheim's, one of the most useful compendiums of reformed polemics : — Socinianis- mus confutatus (Utrecht and Amst. 1650-1664, 3 vols. 4to), an extract of which was given by Knibble (Leyd. 1690) ■.—Miscellanea Sacra (Utrecht, 1677). Of espe- cial value is his Theologia jJractica cum irenica (Ultraj. 1663-1698, 3 vols. 4to : new edit. 1672).— Herzog, Recil- Encyklop. vi, 260 ; Bayle, Gen. Dictionary, s. v. ; Hook, Eccles. Biof/raphy, vi, 149 ; Stiiudlin, Geschichte d. theol. Morcd s. d. Wiederatiflebunf/ d. Wissensckaff, p. 429 sq. ; Schrtickh, Kirchenr/esck. s. d. Reform, viii, 603 sq. ; Gass, Gesch. d. Doymat. ii, 287, 293.
Hope (tATri'e), a term used in Scripture generally to denote the desire and expectation of some good (1 Cor. ix, 10) ; specially to denote the assured expectation of salvation, and of all minor blessings included in sal- vation, for this life and the life to come, through the merits of Christ. (1.) It is one of the three great ele- ments of Christian hfe and character (1 Cor. xiii, 13). Faith is the root, love the fruit-bearing stem, and hope the heaven-reaching crown of the tree of Christian Ufe. Faith appropriate^ the grace of God in the facts of sal- vation ; love is the animating spirit of our present Chris- tian life ; while hope takes hold of the future as belong- ing to the Lord, and to those who are his. The king- dom of God, past, present, and future, is thus reflected in faith, love, and hope. Hope is joined to faith and love because spiritual life, though present, is yet not accom- plished. It stands in opposition to seeing or possessing (Rom. viii, 24 sq. ; 1 John iii, 2 sq.) ; but it is not the mere wish or aspiration for liberation and light which is common to all creation (Eom. viii, 19-22), nor the mere reception of the doctrine of a future life, which may be found even among the heathen philosophers. It is, beyond these, the assurance that the spiritual life which dwells in us here will be prolonged into eteniity. Hence, in the scriptures of the N. T., Christians are said to have hope rather than hopes (Rom. xv, 4, 13 ; Heb. iii, 6 ; vi, 11, 18). The Holy Spirit imparted to believ- ers is the ground and support of their hope (1 Pet. i, 3 ; Acts xxiii,6 ; 2 Cor. v, 5 ; Rom. viii, 11 ; xv, 13 ; Gal. v, 5). Hence the notion of hope appeared first in the dis- ciples in its fuU force and true nature, after the resiu-- rection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost. In the O. Test, we do not find it with its significance (see Heb. vii, 19).
Thus hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential, indeed, that, Uke faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. iii, 15; Heb. x, 23). In it the whole glory oV the Christian vocation is centred (Eph. i, 18 ; iv, 4) ; it is the real object of the propagation of evangelical faith (Tit. i, 2 ; Col. i, 5, 23), for the most precious possessions of the Christian, the o-oirjjpi'a, airoXvTQujaiQ, vto^effia, tiKaioavvr], are, in their fidfilment, the object of his hope (1 Thess. v, 8 sq. ; Rom. viii, 23 ; comp. Ezech. i, 14; iv, 30; Gal. v, 5; 2 Tim. iv, 8). Unbelievers are expressly designated as those who are without hope (Eph. ii, 12 ; 1 Thess. iv, 13), because they are without God in the world, for God is a God of hope (Rom. xv, 13 ; 1 Pet. i, 21). But the actual object of hope is Christ, •who is himself called ?'/ iXirig, not only because in him we place all our dependence (the general sense of jXtt/c), but especiallj' because it is in his second coming that
the Christian's hope of glorj' shall be fulfilled (1 Tim. i, 1 ; Col. i, 27; Tit. ii, 13). The fruit of hope is that through it we are enabled patiently and steadfastly to bear the difficulties and trials of our present existence, and thus the inrofiovii is a constant accompaniment of the fcXTTjf (1 Thess. i, 3 ; Rom. viii, 25), and even is some- times put in its place with faith and love (Tit. ii, 2 ; compare 2 Tim. iii, 10; 1 Tim. vi, 11). As it is the source of the believer's patience in suffering, so it is also the cause of his fidelity and firmness in action, since lie knows that his labor " is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. XV, 58). Christianity is the religion of hope, and it is on essential point of its absolute character, for whatever is everlasting and eternal is absolute. To the Chris- tian, as such, it is therefore not time, but eternity; not the present, but the future life, which is the object of his efforts and hope. See Kcrzog, Eeal-Encyklop, vi, 195; Krehl, A'. T. Ilandioorterbuch, p. 372.